World

EU Officials Call on Google to Improve Privacy

European privacy officials on Tuesday chastised Google for the privacy changes it implemented earlier this year and challenged the U.S. Internet giant to take further steps to improve its privacy protections.

In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, the European Union data protection authorities argue that the changes Google implemented on March 1 to its privacy policies are not in line with the European privacy principles of limiting the use and collection of data, ensuring the quality of the data and giving consumers the right to opt out of data collection.

Google's "privacy policy suggests the absence of any limit concerning the scope of the collection and the potential uses of the personal data," the privacy officials wrote. "We challenge you to commit publicly to these principles."

The French data protection authority launched an investigation earlier this year on behalf of the EU privacy officials after Google first announced in January that it would consolidate more than 60 privacy policies and begin tracking consumers as they move from one Google service to another. When the probe was first launched, French data protection officials said Google may have violated EU privacy laws. In their letter Tuesday, the European officials did not specifically say whether Google's changes ran afoul of any EU privacy laws.

The European privacy officials urged Google to take several steps to improve its privacy practices. They include disclosing to consumers how Google process personal data within each of its services. In addition, the officials called on Google to give users more information about how data is combined across its services and develop new tools to give consumers more control over their personal data by, for example, simplifying opt-out options.

The European privacy officials, however, did not set a deadline for Google to implement the changes and did not indicate whether the company would face penalties for not complying with the recommendations. Instead, Google was urged to indicate how and when it would comply with the privacy recommendations.

"We recognize Google's key role in the online world," the officials wrote. "Our recommendations do not seek to limit the company's ability to innovate and improve its products, but rather to strengthen users' trust and control, and to ensure compliance with the data protection [legislation] and principles."

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Google has defended the changes as a way to "streamline and simplify" its privacy policies.

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